Welcome to Drumbeats, the must -listen -to podcast
which explains why Indigenous partnerships are
the key to securing successful outcomes in natural
resource and infrastructure investment in Canada.
I'm Martin McNack and my co -host Robert Brandt
and I are talking about the upcoming 2025 Canadian
Indigenous Investment Summit. It will be held
on the 10th of April at the London Stock Exchange
in the City of London. With Trump's impending
tariff announcements targeting major trading
partners, this summit presents a particularly
timely opportunity to look at a critical economic
story at the intersection of Indigenous partnerships,
international trade, and investment resilience.
This will be the largest gathering of Indigenous
leaders from North America ever held in the UK
in modern times and comes at a crucial moment
when Canadian -UK trade relationships are gaining
renewed strategic importance. Good morning, Rob.
Great to see you. Morning, Mark. You too. So
we're a couple of weeks out from the summit,
which is really exciting. And in England today,
I think the temperature is going to hit 16 or
17 degrees and it's sunny. So how's life in Toronto?
Well, it's all happening here in Canada too.
We're in the middle of an election now. That
was called a week or so ago. And the leaders
are hot on the campaign trail. I was at a luncheon
yesterday with the Assembly of First Nations
Grand Chief, who spoke with Tabitha Bull, the
President and CEO of the Canadian Council on
Indigenous Business. Fantastic. And Tabitha is
coming to the summit, isn't she? Absolutely.
So they were both on stage talking about what
they were hoping to see. on the platforms from
the major parties as the election evolves on
Indigenous issues. So with the parties, it's
a two -horse race in Canada, which it is most
of the time at the federal level between the
Liberals, the former party of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, and now the home of Mark Carney,
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who's obviously well
-known over here, former governor of the Bank
of England in Canada, former Bank of Canada governor.
as well. So he's led a resurgence in the polls
for the liberals. And on the conservative side,
it's being led by Pierre Politov. And the conservatives,
as they're called in Canada, have been riding
high in the polls until actually Trump started
to get involved and started to attack the country.
And I think Justin Trudeau had some of his finest
moments in defending And there was a leadership
election in the Liberal Party. And like in the
UK here, whoever wins the party, if you're governing,
whoever becomes party leader automatically becomes
prime minister. So Prime Minister Mark Carney,
we now have. He made a flying visit over here
to see. President Macron of France. And then
he came to the United Kingdom to meet with Prime
Minister Starmer. And of course, to meet the
King of Canada, who resides in the UK most of
the time, King Charles III, and then came back
and called an election last week. So this is,
on one hand, it's a great time for Canada to
be having an election so we can agree who is
the team to best represent Canada in these. Trump
times, terrible times, right? So what do you
think in terms of the Indigenous people and the
political platforms as stated at the moment?
Is there a difference between the two parties?
It's hard to tell at the outset of the campaign.
They haven't fully developed their platforms
yet. and they'll be rolling those out over the
next couple of weeks. It's a very short election
cycle here. The election was called, and the
vote will happen in a six -week period. But like
you said, it's been a remarkable comeback by
the Liberals, governing Liberals, who were 20
points behind in the polls until early this year.
The resurgence has been driven. by the debate
with the US around tariffs, and that has emboldened
the Liberals under Mark Carney, who is seen by
some as being involved in working through economic
crises in Canada and in the UK over many years.
And so he's led that resurgence. They're pretty
even in the polls going in. and it will probably
be a very tight election. Mr. Carney is not tested
as a politician, so we don't know how he'll do
as a campaigner. That's all to be seen. Yes,
well, interesting times. And I think one thing
they've both talked about, both party leaders,
is the importance of speeding up the... launch
and development and execution and turn them on
of infrastructure projects. And I think both
have acknowledged the Indigenous people of Canada,
as per UNDRIP and Section 35, you know, have
free prior and informed consent to what's going
on. And what I have been pleased to see is that
they are involving the Indigenous leaders. from
business and of strong communities at the moment
and recognizing that there is a role in Canada,
which is really the first election in history
that I can recall, Rob, where they've actually
talked about that issue at such a high level,
about economic contribution, of course, economic
reconciliation and social reconciliation. But
now they're both talking that, yes, the Indigenous
peoples are partners in making a success. of
the future of the country. Yeah, I agree. I mean,
for our former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,
to give him some dues, he was very unpopular
by the end of his almost 10 -year reign. But
on the Indigenous file, he probably advanced
economic reconciliation more than any other Prime
Minister in history. There's still lots to be
done. Yes. But a lot of progress was made, and
the fact that Indigenous peoples and their issues
are front and centre, and the fact that they're
seen as important members at the table in these
discussions, whether it's with the US or in discussions
with Europe and other parties, they're at the
table now, and that is different. And that's
a recognition of the way things have evolved
in Canada and the place that Indigenous people
have. in the economy and that's a good representation
of how things have evolved yes and i think one
of the really interesting things coming out at
the moment we've talked about this before people
who are not from north america let's talk from
the uk or or on the continent over here in europe
as an example sometimes have tended to say well
there's not too many i can't really tell the
difference uh between Canadians and Americans.
Certainly in the past few weeks and months, that
difference has become very evident in terms of
how Canadians approach treaties and rights and
responsibilities. But, you know, Canada is just
a middle country like the UK and countries on
the continent. But I think something that is
beginning to be appreciated more and more is
that they are two different societies and have
evolved differently. So I don't see any discussion
about Indigenous reconciliation, economic or
social, in the U .S. It's, you know, my perspective
is it's a historical issue. Whereas in Canada,
it's our issue today to resolve. Do you have
that same perspective, Rob? Because you've, you
know, traveled all over and lived abroad as well.
Yeah, I mean, I think Canada is unique in the
world and it's not just not happening in the
US. There are many other parts of the world where
Indigenous rights are not held the same regard
that they are in Canada. And that's partly because
Canadian law has evolved. The courts over the
last couple of decades have been very clear and
supportive of Indigenous rights. And that's whether
it's interpreting treaty. rights, treaties that
may have been signed a couple hundred years ago,
or the inherent rights that Canadian courts have
said that Indigenous peoples have and never have
relinquished. Canadian courts have been pretty
strong in support of Indigenous rights. You've
mentioned the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and the requirement to get
free prior informed consent. for any projects
or work that has an effect on the Indigenous
community. The Supreme Court, again, in Canada,
in a recent federal court decision, are strengthening
that and making it pretty clear. If business
didn't already know it, but I think they'd come
to the same conclusion anyway, if you want to
get things done, you are going to have to have...
the Indigenous peoples alongside you. Yes. And
if we come back and just reflect on that role
at the moment, you come across all the large
businesses, McCarthy, Tetrell's, no exception.
Okay. They have part of their business focused
very clearly on the Indigenous peoples. Yeah,
the Indigenous economy is expected to grow and
is a real growth opportunity within Canada, which
is seen as a very developed, mature, probably
not a big growth market. But within that economy,
you have an emerging economy, the Indigenous
economy, and that definitely is growing. And
so a firm like ours and many other... organizations
in Canada are more and more focused on being
a part of and helping grow that Indigenous economy.
That's why I've moved back to Canada. Yes, settled
back in Toronto, but still a frequent visitor
over to London. Absolutely. So, you know, we're
very happy about this. And I think coming back
to that. I think one of the other things that's
happening in this period of turmoil is Canada
has historically, the provinces are very strong.
They control natural resources. To some individuals,
there's less free trade in Canada than there
is in the European Union. I think what has come
up very clearly from politicians at all levels,
whether at the federal or provincial level, is
that we need that single market across the country.
And they're all talking about it. And some of
the provinces are already starting to take action
in that regard. So what you're also having at
this time is a strengthening of the Canadian
economy. through a reduction of internal barriers
to trade, which means big infrastructure projects,
one, can get done quicker, hopefully, and two,
there's greater opportunity because the economic
unit of the whole can be penetrated wherever
you are in the country. It's no longer And I'm
not calling out a particular province, but let's
say it's no longer, you know, in Ontario, you
have to be from Ontario to really participate
and reach the market in the most effective manner.
And pipelines historically have not gone across
the country because there have been those internal
barriers. In fact, some of the pipelines that
serve the Maritimes actually start in the West
and go south through America and then back up
to reach the Maritimes. And of course, North
America has been since the 90s with free trade
under Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan, who are
both probably turning in their graves at the
moment with what's happening. And the other day,
President Trump announced 25 % tariffs on automobiles
not made in the US. And free trade in automobiles
in Canada did not start with NAFTA even. It started
something called the auto pack, I think, way
back in the mid 60s, where the manufacturers,
the big brands said, you know, we want to run
this more efficiently. And where it was agreed
that Cam would achieve approximately 10 % of
the total market. And then it was set up. So
there's been free trade in automobiles for nearly
50 years. And that's now being all pulled apart.
But at the same time, now, the Canadian economy
is starting to come together, which will be great
opportunities. So I think in that environment,
why don't we talk about our upcoming summit?
Because that's the context for the summit. So
if Canada hasn't been on the radar, it probably
should be now. And if it has been on your radar,
actually, it's going to be a better and better
time to invest in Canada. Because some of the
barriers that have held back the speed that investment
and... you know, shovels in the ground can happen.
It looks like some of that's going to change.
Yeah, somebody said, don't waste a good crisis.
And one of the benefits that might come out of
this tariff war is a realization by Canadians
as a whole that we've been so reliant on the
U .S. to buy our goods, to defend our borders,
that we've not spent enough time. with other
friends around the world. And so Mark Carney's
first trip as Prime Minister was to Paris and
then to London. He then went to the Arctic and
met with Inuit leaders there. And he mentioned
possibility of pipelines, which going across
Canada, which wasn't a possibility before. This
crisis, the Quebec premier has said, yeah, maybe
there's a change of mood in Quebec and maybe
pipeline coming through and into Quebec from
out west is not the worst idea. So you're starting
to see people work on some of the problems that
were not possible to be solved before this crisis.
And you're seeing an outreach beyond the U .S.
like you've never seen before. And so the timing
for our second summit, we've got a lot of excitement
amongst Indigenous leaders, chiefs, business
leaders, speakers and sponsors from coast to
coast in Canada, the far north and the Arctic,
wanting to come to London to talk to Europeans.
and Brits and potential investors and partners
in places other than the US. Yes, and it's great.
So we've got a lot of people waiting here for
everyone to show up. As you said, most of the
audience at the moment is from the UK, but we
have some people already from the continent.
Looking forward to learn more and to continue
this journey and see what the opportunities are.
Because Europe and the UK are also looking, well,
if everything's getting rewired, who can we work
with? And just one of the initiatives is Canada,
the US and the Finns already have a project on
building icebreakers. The Finns still have a
great shipbuilding capacity. And Canada has been
working very closely with them. They're looking
on defense issues now. So there's all kinds of
opportunity in front of Canada working with its
European partners and allies. So why don't we
talk a little bit through the agenda of the summit
and how the program's going to run. I'll just
mention to everybody, we're at the London Stock
Exchange this year. We're very pleased to be
there. They have great facilities. And of course,
for those who don't know it well in terms of
location, it's just across from St. Paul's Cathedral.
So very, very central in the heart of the city
of London in the Square Mall. We're going to
have a full house and we've split up the program.
There's the theater and the forum. So we've got
some concurrent sessions. But Rob, why don't
you kick it off and tell a little bit about how
we're going to open our summit as we did last
year? Because this summit is for and by. the
Indigenous people of Canada. That's how you and
I are connected through the alliance that our
forefathers had. Well, actually, my ancestors
fought under Chief Joseph Brandt. So we're just
here back serving again out of the leadership.
But why don't you talk about that? Because I
think it's really important for people to understand.
It's going to be a very special day, Mark. I
think it's the largest Indigenous business delegation
that will ever have come to london wow i did
i it probably is so more than the four kings
who came three or four hundred years what your
ancestor one of them yeah right back in force
okay yes and i don't pretend to know exactly
what numbers of uh entourage were with the four
kings uh at the time um but In living memory,
there hasn't been a delegation chief and CEO
level from across Canada. Every one of them is
a leader in their community or in their field.
And we've got them across the board. We're going
to open with the former Grand Chief of the Mohawk
Council of Kahnawake, just outside of Montreal.
Christina Howe Skydeer will open our day in a
good way with Thanksgiving prayer address in
Mohawk. And like all Indigenous gatherings, we
do like to start, as I said, and we say in a
good way with an opening prayer or acknowledgement
to put people in the right frame of mind for
a good day. discussion, healthy dialogue, an
enjoyable day and cooperation amongst different
cultures. And then we will move to a fireside
chat with three of the most senior leaders in
business and circles in Canada amongst the Indigenous
peoples and three leading Indigenous organizations
who are all there supporting Indigenous business
in different ways. and Indigenous communities
in different ways. So fireside chat. Sorry, we
do not have a fire going on in there, right?
This is obviously a term from North America.
Let's come into the London Stock Exchange and
sit by the fire, right? But we've got three outstanding
leaders. And we're honoured that one of them
was with us last year and has come back. So why
don't you explain to our audience, Rob, about
who these three are that we're going to have
a... conversation with. So Harold Calla, really
a founder of an organization called the First
Nations Financial Management Board. He's been
there from the start. FNFMB is an organization
that helps Indigenous First Nations communities
prepare themselves for the types of transactions
they would need to do if they want to develop.
their economies and so for example they they
run a certification program and you would need
to pass certain criteria and they'll help you
do that and they'll help you get established
and if they put their stamp of approval on your
community then that allows you to then go out
and and counterparties do business with you lenders
borrow or lend to you with confidence that you've
got the proper financial controls in place. Right,
which is important not only for the counterparties,
the corporate partners they're working with,
but it's also for the communities that those
negotiating on their behalf are representing.
So it tells the community, you know, we've got
good governance in place and it tells our corporate
partner we're ready to go. Absolutely. So one
of our other members of the Fireside Chat, along
with Harold, is Tabitha Bull, who's the President
and CEO of the Canadian Council for Indigenous
Business. And Tabitha was with us last year.
CCIB has been around for 40 years, and it's really
an association organization of Indigenous businesses.
Non -Indigenous businesses can be members too.
It's all about creating partnerships. and building
up Canadian Indigenous businesses. It's an organization
near and dear to my heart because I had a summer
job when it was established 40 years ago. My
first office summer job was helping them put
a directory. Were your parents working there
too and they brought you along and put you in
the bay or you're a little older than you look?
Is that it? Something like that. But they've
since grown to, I think, almost 2 ,500 member
organizations. Some very large organizations
in Canada are members. McCarthy Tatro is a member.
Okay, so it's non -Indigenous and Indigenous.
Yes. Corporates and businesses. Okay. It's all
about partnerships. And growing the Indigenous
economy and supporting Indigenous businesses.
And then supporting non -Indigenous businesses
do business in Indigenous communities. I've been
a CEO for about five years now. Great. And our
third guest is Mark Podlasny. He's the CEO of
the First Nations Major Project Coalition. Tell
us a little bit about Mark and that organization.
Yeah, FNMPC has just exploded over the last 10
years, gone from a small organization set up
to help First Nations who were getting involved
in major projects and didn't have the capacity
or the expertise to pull those off. And so FNMPC
helps those communities get... the resource they
need and helps them through the execution completion
of these major projects and they are now a major
force across canada great can you explain the
differences between those three i would say ccib
is helping business do more business helping
businesses grow helping Indigenous businesses
do business with non -Indigenous companies, helping
non -Indigenous businesses understand Indigenous
communities and understand the opportunities
with Indigenous businesses. FNMB, the Financial
Management Board, is helping communities get
qualified and make them ready to do business
with... Big players in the Canadian economy who
expect to see certain things if they're going
to lend significant amounts of money to them
or invest significant amounts in their communities.
So helping them put their financial affairs in
a place that is suitable for big business. And
then FNMPC, the Major Projects Coalition, they're
helping communities actually execute big project
transactions. So it could be pipelines and other
types of major infrastructure projects. Yeah,
so really once the agreement's ready, then it's
resourcing up so the Indigenous partner has all
the resources and capabilities to successfully
bring the project through, really, from the agreement
onwards. Yeah, well, FNMPC, they're actually
involved earlier, even at concept stage. and
helping bring in advisors and a team of experts
to help negotiate those agreements and then to
actually see the projects through as well. Great.
Well, that'll be a great conversation for all
our delegates to really get an understanding
about, you know, how the Indigenous peoples are
shaping the future and some of the key organizations
that they will hear about. If they go do anything
with the Indigenous peoples in Canada, they will
come across those three organizations. So that
will be a great conversation. And, you know,
we're honored to have those three leaders there
to kick off that session. And then the next session
is going to be about investing in capital and
transforming Indigenous participation in capital
markets. Yeah, Cedar Leaf Capital, making waves
in the Canadian capital markets. by being an
Indigenous -controlled securities dealer, starting
in the capital markets. All credit to Scotia
Bank in Canada for sponsoring Cedar Leaf being
a major shareholder themselves and helping Cedar
Leaf get to a point where Scotia has said publicly
they expect to relinquish their shareholdings.
in the short to medium term. So they'll help
Cedar Leaf get off the ground. Maybe become a
competitor in a way. Yes. And so that's really
exciting. And they're on a number of the bond
syndicates, right? I think the Canadian Pension
Plan, I think there was one that just came out
the other day. I think three or four, they've
signed up very quickly. And they're getting recognition.
Because they have the capabilities to participate,
plus they're Indigenous -led. And as you said,
Scotia has empowered and enabled this to happen.
But there's two or three Indigenous nations who
actually will be our shareholders and will be
even larger shareholders in the future. And they're
joining Clint Davis, the CEO of Cedar Leaf Capital,
on that panel as well. Sean Willey, the CEO of
the Desnetti Group. and Chief Ted Williams, the
chief of the Chippewa of Rama. So with Chief
Ted Williams, chief of the Chippewa of Rama,
for many Canadians, they will know about Rama
Casino. And when we had Chief Williams on our
podcast, he was talking about this. And if you
grew up in southern Ontario or those states,
you know, 60 % of the US population is within,
I don't know, six or 700 miles of Toronto, which
is not far from. where the casino is, you grew
up with Casino Rama. You know, it was always
being advertised. And Chief Ted was telling us
that what happened is the money they made from
that then gave them enough capital. So they're
basically self -sufficient. Yes, they still get
contribution from the federal government as per
their treaty rights. But more important, they
have enough capital that they've now been able
to invest and see. Cedar Leaf Capital. They were
called to the party because they know how to
run financial affairs well. They know how to
do business and have the capital participate.
That is a success story. So that'll be a really
interesting conversation too, because there you
have successful, already successful Indigenous
player in the capital markets. And it's probably
going to have a great future because if there
is an Indigenous transaction, why wouldn't you
be working with them? And if you're not, You
better start to work with them anyway and learn
how to work effectively with an Indigenous corporate.
And as you said, kudos to Scotiabank for enabling
this transaction to take place. Yeah, again,
we're very lucky. This is a very senior group
of leaders who've been involved in lots of different
organizations and transactions over the years.
It'll be really interesting to get their perspectives.
East Coast, East North. Anyway, you've got Sean
Willey from the West. You've got Chief Ted from
Central Canada. And all coming together. We've
got another shareholder in the group from British
Columbia who won't be with us, but it'll be really
interesting to get their perspectives. Yes, fantastic.
So then we move from the capital markets. to
something that's involved in the capital markets
quite a bit. It's about the energy transition
that's really happening in Saskatchewan. And
we have Matt Smith, the CEO of the Saskatchewan
Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation, which
is an arm of the Saskatchewan government, along
with Chief Tammy Cook -Searson, Chief of the
Lac La Ronge Indian Band, and Matthew Vermette,
who's the Chief Operating Officer of the Métis
Nation of Saskatchewan. And they're going to
be talking about all the exciting stuff that's
happening in Saskatchewan. And many people might
not register, oh, Saskatchewan, where's that?
Well, it's in the middle of the country. But
most likely, if your country uses uranium, they're
also one of the biggest potash producers in the
world, which is fertilizer for basically all
the agricultural products out there. This is
where it all comes from. And they're also looking
at... nuclear energy and small modular reactors.
So that's going to be a great panel as well.
A very special panel, Chief Tammy Cook -Searson
in particular. She's a board member of Cameco,
one of the biggest producers of uranium in the
world, and I think the biggest employer of Indigenous
people in the country. And her father was an
original Board member of Cameco. She's on the
board of Cameco. This panel has a lot of experience
in this sector. And the fourth member of the
panel is Sheldon Wutune, who's President and
CEO of Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource
Centre of Excellence, which I think outside of
Canadian group in Ottawa at the federal level
is one of the largest R &D centres in Canada.
Then another well -known case study coming up
is Cedar LNG project on the West Coast. Yeah,
we've had Chief Crystal Smith on podcast. As
a reminder, the Cedar LNG project is one of the
great success stories. They are well -advanced
stage of creating an LNG terminal that will be
majority owned by the Haisla Nation. on the West
Coast of British Columbia. So Chief Crystal Smith
will be with us to talk about that. And also
Ernie Daniels, the President and CEO of the First
Nations Finance Authority. FNFA was involved
in the financing of Cedar LNG. So we'll hear
how that project has come together, what the
status is, when it will be fully operational.
And our moderator is, again, the Senehawe Skydeer,
who, when she was Grand Chief to Kahnawake near
Montreal, she was involved in power projects
with Hydro -Quebec major projects. And so she
saw those through to completion during her reign.
And so she'll have a perspective as well on power
projects in Canada. There are plenty more that
need to be built in the coming years. Yes, and
so that's going to be a fantastic conversation
about power. And just to remind some of our listeners,
when the pipes were turned off in Europe with
Russia, one of the first places Germany went
was to Canada to see about buying LNG from Canada.
Unfortunately, it didn't take place at the time,
but I think with all the changes that are going
on, it just reinforces for many European countries,
as for many around the world, Canada is a preferred
partner. So if it can be unshackled in terms
of a lot of the barriers, now that the indigenous
peoples have their rights and are sitting at
the table, there's huge opportunity in front
of the country. So that'll be a great session,
Rob. And then at the same time, we're having
a... Another session, which is slightly different,
about Indigenous -led investment vehicles. And
if I recall, Rob, I think this is your panel
you're going to chair? Yes, I'll be speaking
with three special guests. Andrew Hungerford
from British Columbia, one of the founders. Hungerford
Properties is a well -established and old Canadian
real estate company. with a couple of billion
dollars of assets under management. And Seven
Generation Capital is a new fund that's been
established. They've had a first closing, so
they've raised some money, and there's more to
come. But they will focus on real estate projects
in Indigenous communities. With that fund, Barbara
McKenzie is the CEO of the Métis Settlement Development
Corporation. which is the development corporation
of the Métis communities in Alberta that have
signed settlements with the government. And they
have some of their own money and they're also
raising other money. And their investment focus
is a little bit different from Seven Generations.
It's not restricted to any one particular sector.
They're also looking at growth opportunities
and growth businesses. And they've got a really
high -level board and expertise within the Métis
Settlement Development Corp. And also Patrick
Berthoud. Patrick is the Managing Director and
Co -Head of Canadian Debt Capital Markets at
Scotiabank. He was intimately involved in the
creation of Cedar Leaf. And so he will talk about
Scotiabank's take on... some of these Indigenous
-led investment vehicles and where they see some
opportunities. And then after lunch, we'll get
back into another case study in the theatre at
the LSE. We've got the English River First Nation
and Denison Mines talking about their work in
northern Saskatchewan again. Yes, I love these
ones from the prairies, as you know, Rob. I was
born out there, so it's always good to see strong
representation from what are smaller provinces
in terms of population. But actually, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba have one of the largest percentage
of Indigenous people. And the Premier of Manitoba
is actually an Indigenous leader now, which is
the first in Canada. But this panel, we have
Carol Ann English -McKee. Carol Ann's from Denison
Mines. Cheyenne Hunt. From English River First
Nation. We have the president and CEO of Denison
Mines, David Cates. And we have Sean Willigain,
who we mentioned earlier in our program today.
That's a great project because it demonstrates
how a corporate works successfully with an Indigenous
community to bring a project to fruition. It
really gives some insights in the importance
of that long -term partnership. Because there
has been a lot of bad experiences for Indigenous
communities over the years with different firms.
But I think Denison has kind of set a gold standard
into how to approach it. So I think that is going
to be a very informative session for our delegates.
So another session coming up after that is the
Indigenous Economies. insights, experiences,
and the case for growth. And I think this is
going to be another solid conversation, very
informative, very engaging. And we have the Honourable
Lisa Wright from CIBC, Vice -Chair of CIBC Capital
Markets, coming back again this year, and she'll
be moderating that panel. Yeah, another stellar
cast of Indigenous leaders from across Canada,
from the West Coast, we've got Chief Derek Epp.
Jackton Chief First Nation, who is also now the
chair of the First Nations Finance Authority.
A lot of experience and development in his own
community and now taking on national responsibilities
too. Tabitha Bull will be on that panel as well.
We've spoken about her. And Scott Monroe, who
is also as Harold Calla. is from the First Nations
Financial Management Board. And Scott is the
CEO. He was with us last year. And he'll talk
more about FNFMB's plans and what they're seeing
across the country. And Mark Silvestro is joining
us this year. Mark has had a number of hats on
over the years all around the Indigenous. We
spoke to him on a podcast not long ago. He's
from the Six Nations of the Grand River, First
Nation in Ontario. I'm sure Lisa will get a lot
of each of those people. That'll be really interesting.
Yes, that'll be a great conversation. We've got
another great business case. 10 Clearwater Seafoods,
which has been a real game changer. not for Indigenous
people and businesses, but a real game changer
changing the landscape of corporate Canada. Yeah,
this is a real treat because, and an honour,
Chief Terry Paul, who is the chief of the member
two First Nation on the east coast of Canada,
Nova Scotia. He's been chief for 40 years now.
He's seen a lot. He's been involved in a battle
for... Indigenous rights over the years and economic
development. He's been a leader on that front
too. He doesn't travel as much as he used to
and he doesn't do conferences like he might have
done one day. So he is honouring us with his
presence and going to talk about the Clearwater
acquisition and some of the other things that
member two have done and are looking to do because
they're not done. They've bought. the seafood
company. They bought the dockyards recently and
they've got other plans, bigger plans. And Steve
Berna will moderate that panel. And Steve has
gone from COO of the FNFA to a new role with
National Bank. And so he's taken on a new role.
and some of the other players who were involved
in the Clearwater acquisition, Troy McDonald
of Doan Grant Thornton, and Jim Gauguin of McInnes
Cooper will be on that panel too. That is going
to be a great panel as well. Those are some,
I think we've got, as you said, it's one of the
largest groups coming over here, but we have
some great leaders, case studies, insights. I'm
so excited about the summit that's coming up.
We're very pleased with what we achieved in the
first year, but I think with all the contributions
we've had and the people wanting to work with
us and participate, I think this is just going
to be a great summit. Couldn't agree more, Mark.
Great. So something really special that's just
happened. It looks like we're going to have Minister
Greg Rickford from Ontario, who's the Minister
of Indigenous Affairs. First Nations Economic
Reconciliation, and minister responsible for
the Ring of Fire Economic Community Partnership
joining us. Yeah, Minister Rickford, he's been
the Indigenous Affairs Minister for a few years,
but now he's taken on these other portfolios,
including, I think it's a new one, specifically
about the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario, which
is an area designated. a number of critical minerals,
and a real hot spot, hence the name, for future
development. Wow. Of course, a great event like
the upcoming summit can happen without great
sponsors. And we'd like to thank all of our sponsors,
our platinum sponsors, McCarthy Tetrell and Scotiabank,
our silver sponsors, CIBC and the Saskatchewan
Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation, and
our bronze sponsors. Anglo American, National
Bank of Canada, Denison Mines, and the Government
of Ontario Canada. Anyway, it's been great, Rob.
Look forward to having you back in London and
being at the summit with you. I can't wait, Mark.
I'll see you very soon. Great. Mark for now.
Bye. We look forward to seeing many of you at
the upcoming summit. Be sure to share, subscribe,
and leave a review on your favorite podcast channel.
Thanks for listening to Drumbeats. Until next
time.